Benue killings: Why farmers/herdsmen clashes can’t end – Gov Yari

ABUJA – THE National Economic Council, NEC, Thursday met at the Presidential Villa and appointed Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State to head a committee that will meet with the leadership of the Miyatti Allah so as to find a lasting solution to the farmers/herdsmen clashes.

Governor Jibrila Bindo of Adamawa State; Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State; Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State; Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a crucial meeting of the NEC Committee on Pastoralist/Farmers Clash at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 01/02/2018

This is as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, Abdullaziz Yari has said that the farmers/herdsmen clashes will linger for a long time because some criminal elements were making money from the clashes.

The NEC which has the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo as the Chairman, is made up of the 36 State Governors and some key ministries that have to do with the economy including the Central Bank of Nigeria.

At the meeting held in Vice President’s office, the Minister of Interior, Abdulraman Danbazzau and the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, who had proposed the establishment of cattle colonies in the states as well as the Deputy Governors of Benue and Oyo States, Benson Abuonu and Moses Adeyemo respectively were in attendance.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the closed-door, meeting, Chairman of the Nigeria’s Governors Forum, NGF, Abdullaziz Yari said that the National Economic Council was worried over the constant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers and had decided to set up a committee to interface with the leadership of the Miyatti Allah to find a lasting solution to the problem

Yari who is the governor of Zamfara State also noted that there were criminal elements that have decided to make money from the clashes.

According to him, “There is progress. One, this committee is a NEC committee established by the Vice President so that this issue of herdsmen/farmers clashes will be put to rest.

“Though it is a long standing problem since 2007 in some states particularly in my own state (Zamfara), we have been battling with it. Now the states and Federal Government under the leadership of the Vice President, we agreed to have a small committee at NEC so that the situation will not get out of hand, so that it won’t be looked at as an ethnicity crisis or religious crisis.

“So, in our discussion today, we have set up a committee headed by the governor of Ebonyi State, while plateau and Adamawa governors are members, and we are bringing some other technocrats that will visit the hotspot States like Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and Zamfara, where there are crisis so that they can interface with the Meyitta Allah and other group to see how we can reduce this to the nearest minimum.

Why clashes can’t be put to rest

“Why we cannot say we can put this matter to rest finally is because some of them have taken this as a money making venture, some are criminals who hide under this to perpetrate this act.

“As government, we have to take all the measures despite the fact that the army, Police, all the security agents are on the field at the respective places, still we have to form this committee to interface with those actors so that this matter can be reduced to the barest minimum and possibly be wiped off.”